The impact of congestion management on air pollution emissions in urban freeways

Abstract

Urban and semi urban transport contributes considerably to many environmental problems, e.g. air pollution and environmental noise. Congestion in motorways in particular, has a signifi cant effect in traffi c conditions and the atmospheric environment as well. In addition to delays and queues incidents also affect fuel consumption and air pollution. Athens Ring Tollway ("Attiki Odos" or "Attika Tollway" - "AT") is a 70 km freeway centreline length in each direction and is used as a Ring Road for Athens, the capital of Greece. The harmonious co-existence of the motorway with the environment has been a diffi cult task, but successfully achieved by Attica Tollway regarding environmental noise through the implementation of comprehensive management, including monitoring, assessment &implementation of the appropriate mitigation measures i.e. noise barriers &land use organization. In this article and in order to further calculate and evaluate the benefi ts of AT incident management which is given through Attica Tollway Patrol Service (ATPS), Freeway Service Patrol Evaluation Methodology (FSPE) is used. An FSPE model has been examined for the effect of ATSP in the total length of the freeway for the year 2009. © 2013 WIT Press.